By at WebProNews

Google to make Zagat “cornerstone” of local offering

As you can see from this Testerheld Google Article, Google reviews are a massive part of a business’ success. And Google knows this which is why they just announced that it has acquired Zagat. This should be pretty huge for Place Pages.

Zagat is of course a big name consumer review service.

On the Official Google Blog, Marissa Mayer writes:

Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering-delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.

With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry. Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat more than 32 years ago, Zagat has established a trusted and well-loved brand the world over, operating in 13 categories and more than 100 cities. The Zagats have demonstrated their ability to innovate and to do so with tremendous insight. Their surveys may be one of the earliest forms of UGC (user-generated content)-gathering restaurant recommendations from friends, computing and distributing ratings before the Internet as we know it today even existed. Their iconic pocket-sized guides with paragraphs summarizing and “snippeting” sentiment were “mobile” before “mobile” involved electronics. Today, Zagat provides people with a democratized, authentic and comprehensive view of where to eat, drink, stay, shop and play worldwide based on millions of reviews and ratings.

@marissamayer
marissamayerAcquisition announcement haiku: Delightful deal done; Zagat and Google now one; foodies have more fun!http://t.co/T2gZ4yC #gogooglelocal 20 minutes ago via web powered by @socialditto

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@Zagat
Zagat BuzzWe’ve just been acquired by Google! http://t.co/kaZH9G6 17 minutes ago via HootSuite powered by @socialditto

What other Googlers are saying (on Google+):

Vic Gundotra: “+1 to this news!”

Kavi Harshawat: “Super excited about this! I love Zagat and use them every time I visit a new city.”

Hunter Walk: “Love Zagat as part of GOOG family. Wrote in 07/08 about their missed opportunity on the web.” He also said, “Pro tip: Zagat (just acq by Google) pronounced like ‘the cat’ not ‘zay-gat’ or ‘zah-gat'”.

Here’s what others are saying:

@demandrichard
Richard Rosenblattgoogles acquisition of zagat is very smart IMO; great quality local content to supplement their local ambitions. SMART. 32 minutes ago via TweetDeck powered by @socialditto

@WSJ
Wall Street JournalOpenTable is down more than 10% after Google announced its acquisition of Zagat http://t.co/lZYl81d 8 minutes ago via TweetDeck powered by @socialditto

@garyvee
Gary VaynerchukHUGE! http://t.co/3i1v0M9 Zagat pulled off a huge win here! google is shopping 16 minutes ago via web powered by @socialditto

@stevenjayl
Steven LevyCan’t wait to see the Zagat ratings for Google cafes.http://t.co/WcraIKC 29 minutes ago via web powered by @socialditto

@Scobleizer
Robert ScobleWow, Google just bought Zagat. http://t.co/baaJpBB This is HUGE for Google reviews. 34 minutes ago via web powered by @socialditto

@shelholtz
Shel HoltzGoogle wants to be a publisher. They’ve just acquired ZAGAT to feed content into local offerings. http://t.co/l97Iotb (via@IreneKoehler) 7 minutes ago via TweetDeck powered by @socialditto

@carlyafisher
Real Carly FisherGoogle-Zagat merger indicates two things: Google has a lot of expendable funds; most people still don’t know what Zagat is. 9 minutes ago via web powered by @socialditto

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Terms have not been disclosed.